Amended  IN  Assembly  March 21, 2024

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2023–2024 REGULAR SESSION

Assembly Bill
No. 2520

Introduced by Assembly Member Ramos
(Coauthor: Assembly Member Garcia)

February 13, 2024

An act to add Section 50223.5 to the Health and Safety Code, relating to housing.


LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


AB 2520, as amended, Ramos. Housing: youth-specific processes and coordinated entry systems.
Existing law requires the Governor to create the Homeless Coordinating and Financing Council, renamed the California Interagency Council on Homelessness, to, among other things, identify mainstream resources, benefits, and services that can be accessed to prevent and end homelessness in California and to serve as a statewide facilitator, coordinator, and policy development resource on ending homelessness in California. Existing law establishes the Homeless Housing, Assistance, and Prevention Program, administered by the Business, Consumer Services, and Housing Agency, for the purpose of providing jurisdictions, as defined, with one-time grant funds to support regional coordination and expand or develop local capacity to address their immediate homelessness challenges, as specified. Existing law requires the council, upon appropriation, to distribute certain amounts, as specified, for purposes of the program. Existing law requires an applicant to submit an application containing specified information in order to apply for a program allocation. Existing law requires an applicant to prioritize finds received to specific programs, including to create youth-specific coordinated entry systems and improve assessment tools.
This bill would require an applicant, a continuum of care, upon appropriation and beginning with the 2024-25 2026–27 fiscal year, to create and or maintain a youth-specific process with their respective coordinated entry system and system, as specified, implement a youth-specific assessment tool, create a body or identify an existing body composed of youth with lived experience of homelessness that the continuum of care and other Homeless Housing, Assistance, and Prevention Program grantees must consult with regularly, and create an array of youth-specific housing inventory. The bill would require the coordinated entry system to include youth-specific access points and youth-centered assessment tools and prioritizations policies. The bill would require the applicant continuum of care to document in their application how the housing assessment is youth-specific and their prioritization policy if the applicant continuum of care states they already maintain a youth-specific coordinated entry system.
The bill would also make findings and declarations related to youth-specific programs and the Homeless Housing, Assistance, and Prevention Program.
Vote: MAJORITY   Appropriation: NO   Fiscal Committee: YES   Local Program: NO  

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:


SECTION 1.

 The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(a) The Homeless Housing, Assistance, and Prevention Program is a multi-round grant program administered by the Business, Consumer Services and Housing Agency. Commencing with Round 3 of the Homeless Housing, Assistance, and Prevention Program, applicants have been asked to prioritize their funding to make homelessness response systems improvements. Specifically, existing law indicates that applicants could use their funding to create a youth-specific coordinated entry system.
(b) Youth-specific coordinated entry systems allow youth to be assessed against other youth, rather than against adults, including chronically homeless adults, whose time on the street will always place them above youth if vulnerability is measured by time spent on the street. Further, youth need housing options that meet their developmentally appropriate needs, which would include a mix of rapid rehousing, time-limited or interim housing, and permanent supportive housing.
(c) In the 2023 Annual Homelessness Assessment Report to Congress from the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development, California reported the largest number of unaccompanied youth (10,173 people), accounting for more than a fourth of all unaccompanied youth nationally (29 percent), with 68.2 percent of these youth being unsheltered.

SEC. 2.

 Section 50223.5 is added to the Health and Safety Code, to read:

50223.5.
 (a) Upon appropriation, and beginning with the 2024-25 2026–27 fiscal year, the council shall require applicants a continuum of care to do all of the following:

(1)Create and maintain a youth-specific coordinated entry system. This shall include youth-specific access points and a youth-centered assessment tool and prioritization policy.

(A)An applicant’s prioritization policy involving youth shall not be based on length of time the youth has been homeless.

(1) Create or maintain a documented, youth-specific process with their respective coordinated entry system. This process shall specify all of the following:
(A) How youth are matched to youth-specific resources.
(B) The means by which youth can access the coordinated entry system, which shall include factors in addition to length of time experiencing homelessness.
(C) How youth accessing the coordinated entry system through adult or family programs can access youth-specific supports.
(2) Implement a youth-specific assessment tool that considers the unique needs of youth experiencing homelessness and the unique presentation of homelessness among youth.
(3) Create a body or identify an existing body composed of youth with lived experience of homelessness that the continuum of care and other Homeless Housing, Assistance, and Prevention Program grantees shall consult with regularly to receive input on policies, program design, and implementation of interventions for youth.

(2)

(4) Create an array of youth-specific housing inventory to align with the needs of youth in their region.
(b) If an applicant a continuum of care states that they already maintain a youth-specific coordinated entry system, the applicant continuum of care shall document all of the following in their application:
(1) How the applicant’s continuum of care’s housing assessment is youth-specific, including how the assessment is trauma-informed.
(2) The applicant’s continuum of care’s prioritization policy.
(c) For purposes of this section, “youth-specific” means for a homeless youth as defined in Section 8260 of the Welfare and Institutions Code.